Monday, August 17, 2015

Dear brothers and sisters,

My time as a missionary
has come to a close. It has been quite a memorable experience. There
have been ups and downs and highs and lows. In the midst of it all, I
have come to know my Savior more, and His love for us. I have felt His
arms of mercy, and His love for me. I have repeatedly wondered how He
could love one such as I, but I know He does. How can I not love Him?
There is no way, after all He has done for me and for my family.

I
give you my final testimony, my witness, as a representative of Jesus
Christ. As a representative of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, I solemnly
testify that God lives. He sent His Beloved Son to die for us. Our
mighty Father in Heaven knows us and our weaknesses, and yet He still
perfectly loves us, no matter what. I know that He is tenderly merciful
and loving, a giver of gifts, and a patient, dear Father. He loved us
from the beginning, and He loves us now. I know that Jesus Christ loves
us, for He died for us, and suffered for us. He loves us more than we
love ourselves. I know that because of this He has established His
church on the earth, to gather those that desire to follow Him, to have
Him to be their God. I know that Jesus Christ is the way to salvation,
and that because He lives, we too shall live through His name. I know
that one day we shall reunite with Him. I know these things are true,
and I testify of them in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Sunday, July 5, 2015

This is Justin's reply to a question I asked in a letter:What
is the single most important thing you have learned on your mission? -
After thinking about this question and looking at the possibilities, it has
come down to the simple important truths as to
WHY I SHOULD LOVE THE FATHER AND SON. That's probably it. I came out on a
mission just for duty. I knew it was God's will for me to serve, and having the
priesthood, I knew I had the duty to preach the gospel. That's why I came out.
I wasn't excited, but wasn't mad or sad about it either. Once I came out I saw
that I had a long time before coming home. But as I have served and taught and
learned and tried to help other people come unto Christ, I began to understand
the tender
mercies of the Lord. I now understand the atonement more, his Grace, and why I
should want to give my life for the gospel and to serve others and do what I
can to invite them to come unto Christ til death and beyond. God truly loves
us, and His Son loves us. Last Sunday a sister was giving the Sunday school
lesson and told us to look at a picture of Christ atoning, while she read the
account of an apostle having a vision of a sort of being at Gethsemane, and the
part that touched me was when he said how he saw Christ pray to the Father
"Not my will, but thine be done." and then tears started pouring down
the Lord's face. A haunting image. And the words that she spoke - "If Christ
was asked to do it again for us, He would", touched me as well. Truly as
Paul said, we love Him because He first loved us.

Sunday, June 28, 2015

Dear beloved brother and sisters,

One thing that was emphasized this past week was that there is no regrets with diligence, only in the lack thereof. And furthermore, with diligence comes the spirit. I experienced that as my companion and I really focused on following our planned schedules. And though lots of things fell through or didn't work out, there was still the great feel of doing the best we could. Yesterday we tried to follow the plans diligently, and though all pretty much didn't work out, at the very end of the day we were able to have the best opportunity we've ever had with an investigator. He's interested and his family not so much, but they left to go somewhere so we were able to share a message with just us and him. The spirit was indeed there, which was fantastic. We focused on the Savior and His atonement, and how we can learn of Him through prayer - such an important tool. We committed him to be baptized and he said yes. Now he's hesitant on a date, but he's moving along. We invted him to start praying daily, to which he said he would.

So diligence is the key. A beautiful quote from Preach my Gospel, by President Ezra Taft Benson says “I have often said one of the greatest secrets of missionary work is work! If a missionary works, he will get the Spirit; if he gets the Spirit, he will teach by the Spirit; and if he teaches by the Spirit, he will touch the hearts of the people and he will be happy. There will be no homesickness, no worrying about families, for all time and talents and interests are centered on the work of the ministry. Work, work, work—there is no satisfactory substitute, especially in missionary work.”

The same can be applied to our areas of stewardship, and to our studying of the gospel, our sabbath worship especially, and our repentance. Diligence makes all the difference. Love you all, and take care at this time.

Monday, June 15, 2015

Dear beloved brothers and sisters,

An awesome scripture that our
Mission President stated in his letter was this: "And now, my beloved son,
notwithstanding their hardness, let us labor diligently; for if we should cease
to labor,we should be brought under condemnation; for we have a labor to
perform whilst in this tabernacle of clay, that we may conquer the enemy of all
righteousness, and rest our souls in the kingdom of God." I thought it was
a great scripture to have as my theme for the rest of my mission, and of course
the mission of my life that follows this one, because you are never released as
a member, only set apart when you are baptized - to declare the gospel to the
ends of the earth in the sphere of influence you have, or the sphere of
influence God is expecting you to develop. Lots of missionary work in this
life! It is good though because of the incomprehensible joy that follows. And
the efforts can be forever recorded because of those of God's children that
enter the kingdom with the missionary work, they enter for eternity.

Monday, June 8, 2015

Dear Everyone,

Another week gone in the town of
Cowra with some changes. I have a new companion, fresh from the MTC and from
Samoa. He's great and definitely ready to be serving. He's eighteen too, same
age when I came out, fair dinkum. The beginning of the past week I was in Sydney
with a Spanish elder who was going to be training as well. The new missionaries
were going to be arriving in Australia on Wednesday and transfers were on Monday
so after losing Elder Smith, I was put with Elder Edmondson, who was currently
in the Spanish ward and waiting for his new companion as well.

The missionaries did arrive and we
had a conference but since it went so late we stayed at the senior couple's
place, Elder and Sister Hill, and then on Thursday got to our area. That day
was slow because Thursday is also weekly planning day. But I promised that we'd
tract, and were so busy so we tracted one house and the person wasn't really
interested, but was very nice about it and accepted a pamphlet (really good
since it doesn't intimidate the newbie, elder Schwalger). And we visited a
member family that night, which was good. We also made sure to visit the Branch
President to introduce the new elder.

The rest of the week involved
tracting and street contacting. We're trying to increase our pool of investigators
since we've not that many. We have had some success, and one of our members has
been great with giving us referrals and doing missionary work. We're going to
be seeing a potential who is golden and very keen about growing his faith in
Christ. Big miracle there.

The field is definitely white
already to harvest, but we just need to look and try in faith to find it.
Definitely true out here and no doubt back at home. The Church is true and ever
stands. Love you all and take care.

Tuesday, June 2, 2015

I am doing well. It's transfers, and I am with an Elder named Elder Edmondson from Utah as we wait til our new missionaries get to Australia. We meet them tomorrow. I was indeed able to tell Elder Pearson that I was his relative, but wasn't able to converse because the only opportunity I had was when we got to shake hands with the visitors, including Elder Cook, and there were around four hundred missionaries to shake hands, so we lined up and just said hello. It was good though to finally tell him.

Yellowstone definitely looks and sounds like such a fun trip. There isn't anything of the sort like that out here in Australia that I know of. Thanks for the pics. Awesome rivers and waterfalls. And scary that you saw a black bear. I haven't ever seen one in the wild.

There is actually a focus from the Pacific Area Presidency, of which Elder Pearson is the president, about making sacrament meeting better. I definitely have come to learn more on the mission how important the sacrament meeting is and how reverent I should be acting during it. To think that it is a meeting practiced by the saints in America when the resurrected Christ ministered unto them, and then the first one with the apostles just makes it more and more amazing to me. It is a wonderful thing.

Great hearing that you are seeing miracles, especially with getting help with the float. I have really come to feel the Lord's hand in my life on the mission. He's very kind and loving, and truly understands us.

Love you so much, Mom, and tell Ashley and her fiance my wishes are with them and that I say hi. I need pics of them, and I love you and take care!

Sunday, May 17, 2015

Dear People,

The week started off excellent - Mother's Day! That meant that I got to Skype my family and see them and talk. That was excellent and it's great to know that I have that support and love at home. Many people out here don't seem to have that, especially those that don't understand the gospel or don't have it. Families are so important and eternal. If there is a family member that is annoying or conflict, fix it, because you'll be getting that relationship for eternity. And the Lord has blessed me with an amazing family of which I am privileged to be a part of, being my immediate family and also the extended family members. What great unity is there and devotion to one another! What loyalty and love! My beloved great grandmother slipped away this past Wednesday into the embrace of family beyond this life, no doubt with joy for the good work she did while here. My mother used a wonderful phrase to describe her - an "elect lady" - and an elect lady she was.

Great knowledge of this life is one thing, but knowledge of things which are eternal and never ending is far, infinitely better. Praise God that He gives it to us so abundantly. I can see the influence it has had on my family, and the families of others as I have served out here. What we have stands forever, and we can make covenants and act according to them so that we can stand forever.

I have learned here in Australia that people are important, very important. I continue to wonder why, and I doubt I will ever truly see until I can understand as the Father understands, but I know that people are precious, in such a true, undeniable way. Not all things last forever, but to bring one soul unto God does.

Now back to the week: We had the opportunity to have splits with the assistants to the President, Elder Pederson and Elder Shelton, who are fantastic elders. We then traded to other elders, our district leader and his companion - Elder Johnson and Elder Bell. That was great. At the weekend we had a recent convert named Michael do a mini mission with us, and that was awesome. He's too old to serve a mission, and so this was a great opportunity for him, and he loved it.

Sunday we had church and Chloe, a recent convert who moved down to Canberra and was up here in Cowra for a little bit, brought her sister, Meg to church who isn't a member. That was great and she liked it and would go again. We then had lunch with them and the Paki family at a park so we could talk to Meg a little bit more.

I know this church is true and the efforts we give to the Lord are ever worth it no matter what. God loves us His children and the way is straight, leading to eternal life. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Dear Mom, I write this in between our skyping periods. Happy Mothers Day!! I am wearing your purple tie in remembrance of you this day. I also wore it yesterday because it was Mother's Day here. Our investigator pool is still small, so we are working on finding people to teach. We had a wonderful opportunity, like I said, with Heidi, a mother of four. Now, she is only a potential investigator at the moment, but I have high hopes for her and her family. We will be going over there on Tuesday in the afternoon.

As for the basketball, we are still doing that on the Wednesdays and also on Saturday we do it at a court place near us. One of the kids from the Wednesday basketball was there named Damon, and now we want to invite him and the other players on Wednesday.

This past week, which for some reason it is getting harder and harder to remember my past weeks, we had some bike issues, which took forever for us to fix but now they are good...for now. Lots of stickers and all of our tires have been punctured in multiple places. We ended up getting goo to put in the tires and put twice the prescribed amount at least, and now they are good, though this morning we came outside to go to Skype our families, and Elder Smith's bike had a complete flat. It's good now that we filled it up and got the goo to spin around the tire. I was late to Skype you because of delay with Elder Smith and his family getting on and such, but now we were able to do a split so it's like we Skyped twice!!!

I am doing well out here. There are definitely different challenges with the work depending on the area that you are in. For this area the issue will be being effective and efficient because we are in a big area with bikes. I am enjoying it so far and have no reason to complain. One of my favorite parts about the area is the members. There aren't that many and some are a bit weird, but they are nice. I enjoy them and I love working with them to build up the branch.

One awesome miracle that happened this week would be finding Heidi, and prayerfully we will be able to help her and her family come unto Christ.

Love you and Happy Mother's Day once again!

Love,

Elder Justin Cederlof

p.s. Totally planning on sending pics because the wifi is good at Michael's house, but alas I did not put my camera in my bag! Sorry.

Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Dear Mom,

I am doing quite well. It's great to hear that Melissa is having these deep concerns when other kids probably wouldn't ever think of such and would just focus on the entertainment part of life at that stage. That's a beautiful experience. How's Landon doing in regards to those things? I never hear of any cool experiences he has.

As for Cowra, which is a wonderful area and I am glad to be here, we are working with some youth, which Elder Smith could relate to because he and they love basketball, so basketball is being used for finding, and we want to set up appointments and invite kids that play at this indoor court on wednesdays, which we attend. Currently we are teaching a 16 year old kid named Brandon, and he isn't per say progressing, but we are continually meeting up with him and he's doing well.

As for my focus that I will be doing for the week, I'll be doing the forty-day fast, of which you fast for a day and while doing so you make a list of things you do that quench the spirit, and then you fast from those for forty days. I've just read an amazing experience and change that an elder had from trying it out and doing his best in it.

A mission is definitely a growth zone where you are expanding and things make such great sense. You feel the stress of the work, but you realize that it is good; stress zone is the growth zone.

While Melissa may not be fully sure, though I think now she is pretty close, I know that God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, live. They love us so deeply and want us home. We can have peace in this life and eternal life in the world to come. Families can be forever. Comfort comes to those that seek it in Christ. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Love you, Mom, and I am in good hands, and ever desire to please the Lord and to serve him ever more.

Monday, April 20, 2015

I have been transferred. It is sad that I'll be leaving the ward that I've come to love along with the investigators we were working with, but I am looking forward to this new area. It's called Cowra and it's in the country, far as from Sydney. It took hours to get there so say goodbye to city people. I've loved it so far and my new companion is from Saratoga Springs, Utah, and his name is Elder Smith.

I was actually able to meet some members and a non member family and a couple recent converts the evening I arrived which was fantastic. I love the area and the branch and the people already. The place has heaps of potential and I'll be excited to work here for the next four months. I should be dying here, mission-wise of course. It's getting cold so it's time to take out the coat. I hear that it snows in a place about an hour from here, not here though, thank goodness. It'll be great though.

You are all awesome. One great thing I've learned from the mission so far is how amazing and how important, priceless, people are. People last forever. Families last forever. They are the true treasures. No wonder God cares so much about us, and I can't comprehend how much He truly loves us. It makes me wonder how much do I underestimate the importance of what I do here, how I reach out to others, how I use my time, for all things have their influence, and time is so short compared to infinite and eternal effects from what happens in that small, pathetically small, amount of time on this earth. Church is true, and ever true. Change is fantastic because it reveals those things that don't change, such as God, His Son, and the gospel, which will always reach out to the individual, priceless, soul. In the name of Jesus Christ amen.

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

S is doing well, though there have been some
challenges with him this past week with his partner, but it's getting better.
We had an awesome meet up with a potential named M, who we met at S's
a while back and had given him reading material. He was at N's place when
we showed up this past Sunday, and he wanted to meet up with us. He had been
reading the pamphlets and we'll be seeing him tomorrow. We are continually
teaching N, and we have him a blessing to help him overcome his
addictions.

At ward council we brought up our concerns with
the ward and asked of their concerns with us and that helped the ward council
and missionaries get more unified, so now we understand more our role with them
and they understand what we are seeing with the ward.

T hasn't been answering his phone as of lately, but we are
still trying to get in contact with him.

I WON'T BE ON FOR THE REST OF THE WEEK SO HAPPY BIRTHDAY,
MOTHER, WHEN THAT DAY COMES. I have your happy face on the calendar. I won't
ask how old you are turning ha, but I'm thinking I've got a pretty sure idea.
Love you so much!

The ward is alright, we are starting those home teaching and
rescue night tradeoffs so that will help us get involved with the ward more. I
am just bummed that things are rolling better, yet in two weeks is transfers,
and I'll probably leave, so that will be a bummer for me. I'd gladly stay in
this ward for another transfer, but whatever the Lord wills.

How is the scripture reading coming along?

Love you so much, Mom, happy birthday, glad you enjoyed
Arizona - did you see Hannah and her husband? - And take care!!

Sunday, March 22, 2015

Dear People,

This week had some pretty amazing instances where the hand of the Lord was present. Sonny, who hadn't been to church for twenty or so years, came to church yesterday. It was brilliant. It was the privilege of mine to see the spirit touch his heart during the sacrament meeting. He had tender weeping moments as he felt the spirit. I almost was teary, seeing the tender mercy of the Lord, and hearing us sing in praise "The Spirit of God". Never before had I felt such a witness of that hallowed song. That truly increased my testimony. That was the best sacrament meeting I've ever been to. It was a miracle. Never before have I felt such a witness of the spirit in a sacrament meeting, testifying of the glory of God, the angelic hosts of heaven, and of the love of God towards His children. I felt just a piece of an awaiting joy that can come if we but endure.

President Back, a remarkable mission president, sent us this poem:

Pain stayed so long I said to him today,"I will not have you with me any more."I stamped my foot and said, "Be on your way,"And paused there, startled at the look he wore."I, who have been your friend," he said to me,"I, who have been your teacher - all you knowOf understanding love, of sympathy,And patience, I have taught you. Shall I go?"He spoke the truth, this strange unwelcome guest;I watched him leave, and knew that he was wise.He left a heart grown tender in my breast,He left a far, clear vision in my eyes.I dried my tears, and lifted up a song Even for one who'd tortured me so long. -Author Unknown

I testify that this is true: pain is a dear friend, a teacher. It's hard to feel that way toward it, but in the end once pain must be on its way, we will understand how much we needed him. No wonder the mission is hard, and no wonder life demands trials, afflictions, and pain. The most loving father I can think of is one who will stand by and let his child endure hardships and pain, for the sake of the beautiful happily ever after that will come because of it. Blessed is our mighty Father in Heaven, who in mercy stays His hand.

I love you all and take care, and endure - trusting in the Lord, with hearts turned toward Him, praying always without ceasing.

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

My week was good because we were able to visit a lot of
people and plus we were able to go on splits with the elder's quorum president
and another member. Our elder’s quorum president is awesome!

I also learned a lot this week spiritually. I have come to
understand one of the reasons perhaps that I have come on a mission. I am not
sure exactly why Australia, but the fact that it is Australia leads to the idea
that this is a harder mission than others, plus there's some disobedience in
our mission compared to others. But at that time those disobedient missionaries
get baptisms and such while I have not baptized anyone. While I used to think
sadly of that, and it is indeed a deep desire for me to baptize someone, I have
come to better understand what really matters in the mission, and that is
coming to know that what you are doing is pleasing to the Lord and that you
are doing all you can to follow His will, accepting obvious imperfections that
we all have, yet patiently enduring and going forward with firm hope. My
outlook on missionary work has changed recently and I have come to trust in the
Lord and Heavenly Father far more, and am coming to understand how I can trust
Them more. I feel far more content with the missionary work that I am doing,
while at the same time trying to push myself.

With transfers Elder Gardner left which is a big bummer, but
at the same time now I am quite okay with whatever the Lord sees fit to do, so
I am one hundred percent okay with staying with Elder Thomas. I am one hundred
percent okay with the Lord moving Elder Gardner, and now I am coming to feel
far more content with whatever the Lord does. I have come to understand more
that we are not in control. The Godhead is in control. They are at work, and
They are the key to people's conversion. I just need to show the Lord my
availability and dependability with whatever I can give. That's me for the
week.

Sunday, February 22, 2015

Dear Everyone,

Many things have been learned this
past week. One experience that I'll mention is when Elder Samuela and I were
teaching a new investigator about the Book of Mormon. The spirit was there and
ever sweet. Both Elder Samuea, who is a zone leader and we were on trade-offs,
and I felt that spirit and we know that the man, Dave, felt it too. He was very
excited to receive the Book of Mormon. That day with the zone leader testified
to me how if we work hard and give our all, we have the spirit with us. With
that spirit comes joy and guidance. Who doesn't want that?

We also had the privilege of going
to a conference for hearing from Elder Bednar. In advance, he had us study
talks he'd given on a few occasions. The talks focused on putting action with
our prayers and action with our faith. True prayer should be exercising faith
in Him, and exercising our faith in Him through action. That same thing occurs
with learning by faith. We must act in accordance to correct principles and
must show the Lord that we are acting on the gospel and the things we know and
desire to know. Then he'll bless us with knowledge. The best way to gain a
testimony is to share that which we have. When we give that which we have, we
receive it back and more. I also learned that we are agents, and so our
learning and growth must be based upon that. We must act on our faith, and
experiment with the word of God. Missionary work is an example.

It was remarkable to have Elder
Bednar come to our area, and I will most assuredly act upon those things we
learned. He didn't even speak the whole time of his portion given. He had the
congregation of missionaries get involved. The answers came as he gave us
agency with our learning, by letting us participate and act in accordance to
our desires to learn. At the end it was open question for Him and the four
other quorum of the seventy in attendance. A great opportunity and lots of
inspired questions with inspired answers. The spirit was there. I gained a
greater testimony that we have living apostles today, and that they are
inspired in their duties and also that we can receive great revelation if we
act - for we act in faith, and then are empowered. The mission has been
wonderful thus far and I'll be enjoying the final quarter I have left. Love you
all!

Love,

Elder J. Cederlof

P.S. By the way, an Elder asked Elder Bednar how
he could know what questions to ask God in prayer. The invitation by Elder
Bednar to the missionary was to go through all of
the standard works and mark the questions asked by the Godhead and those of
God, including prophets and angels. Study the circumstance and why they asked
the question, and then you'll gain understanding of asking the right questions
in prayer.

Sunday, February 15, 2015

Hey Everybody,

Time is definitely speeding up. I am
coming on my six months left mark, and it really makes the missionary work more
urgent. Time has gone by so fast, and there is just so much to do with finding
people, teaching, and working with members, and helping the ward, and
strengthening the members. Sometimes I feel like there needs to be more of me
than just one, but that just means that the work needs to be done in line with
the Lord's will and the goals set with the area presidency and ward. We had an
area presidency broadcast which talked about the goals for the Pacific area,
and the goals that they had for the wards and stakes. It was great because the
focus was on the temple and family history work. One of those things was the
"Family History: 15 in 15" which is having four generations on family
history with all of their temple work done by the end of 2015. Family history
is a great work, and it is missionary work, and the greatest of joy comes with
missionary work. That is for certain. Missionary work is evidence of love,
which the Lord is eager to change into charity. A great quote that our mission
president told us on his weekly letter is: “the measuring stick of your love of
the Savior and our Heavenly Father is the same measurement of your love of your
fellow men". Not completely quoted right but the idea is there - how much
you love your fellow men is how much you truly love God. And charity never
fails, so we are ever empowered when we have charity. Charity is the motive of
God, and so when we develop Charity, we can begin to see more of God's will,
for we can understand the why more. "For God so loves the world that he
gave his Only Begotten Son.” and there are far more examples of His love for
us, being why He does what He does. The more love we have, the greater we can
understand Him. Love is so important. When we focus on other people we
accomplish greater things than we thought we could and we are empowered. When
one reaches out to others, not thinking of one's self, they overcome fears and
worries because they aren't focused on such emotions, for that would be
focusing on the self. Selflessness is self-empowerment. Charity is power, and
pure.

This past week was great because we
had a baptism on Saturday, an investigator of our wonderful sister missionaries
in our ward. It was wonderful to see him take on the covenant of baptism,
especially since I got to know him from church since he's been coming so many
times. There was a sense of joy in the meeting, especially after he was
baptized, and that was a witness to me of the greatness of missionary work and
a motivator for me to keep ploughing on and doing all I can to serve the Lord
fully.

Well, you all are wonderful, and it
will be an amazing day when we come to realize who we really are and just how
precious we truly are. Love you all, and take care.

Friday, February 13, 2015

It has been good this week in Campbelltown. Though we are now on foot and using the bus, we were able to see quite a few people and were able to talk to Miranda and Tim. Tim we called when we got to his house and he wasn't there. He has had people from work tell him things about our religion and so he's been shaken a bit from it. When he called it was a drop call where he said he wanted to find out on his own. But we were able to talk to him and testify to him that he will find out if he prays. By the end of the conversation we were able to commit him to pray and ask God if it is true. It's a funny thing how the other religions don't tell you to do that. But when he gets his answer that will be great. We are going to follow up on him with that this week.
As for Miranda we are working with her. Her health is now in the way of her getting to church, so we'll be talking to our mission president and asking what we should do. She still reads and prays and wants to be baptized so we aren't giving up.
Another person we saw this week was a less active named Darryl. He hasn't been to church for over a year. He suffers from anxiety. We have talked to him and have committed him to come to church this upcoming Sunday and he is still for it. He's nervous and all, especially with the anxiety, but we assured him that nothing bad will happen and at the end of it he will not regret it, but will be happy that he did it. I really liked that because I related it to missionary work. We shouldn't let any fears drive us in missionary work because we know that during it nothing bad will happen, for we are on the Lord's errand. And secondly, at the end we will be grateful and happy that we did it. There is no sad or bad ending to doing missionary work or any efforts. That was something I learned while teaching him.

The rest of the week was good. We are focusing on getting members on the missionary-work bandwagon and if they all are then they will become a united ward.

Monday, February 2, 2015

Dear Mom,

I am doing good. That sounds like out of getting a dog,
you've been given the perfect one, and great to hear that Landon and
Melissa love her.
T is struggling but we are still seeing him. It's hard for him to give up
some things, but we are working on helping him to see that what the gospel
has to offer is infinitely worth more than those things he would give up in
becoming a disciple of Christ. Elder Thomas is a great missionary and we've
been able to get to work and Miranda has a baptismal date which is the 21st
but will probably move to the 28th since we've stake conference and a
conference with Elder Pearson and Elder David A. Bednar around that time.
She came to church yesterday and that was awesome. As for Samah we didn't
see him last week - wasn't feeling up for it the day we had scheduled - but
we'll be stopping by this week and will talk about his reading of the Book
of Mormon. As for those heaps of lessons we had visited lots of members and
less actives which we didn't get to last week with getting Elder Thomas and
then us cleaning the flat for an inspection on it, but we are going to work
hard this week, though sad news is that Elder Thomas's bike got stolen from
our flat. T'was not in the garage, but under a covered part of the drive
way. It was a planned occurrence because they knew our schedule and where
the bikes were, so for now we'll be on foot or bus. That'll make things
harder, but we'll work with what we've got. Besides that the weeks have
been really good. How's your time been besides all of the different things
you've been doing?

Sunday, February 1, 2015

Dear Mom,

I am doing well. That sounds like out of getting a dog,
you've been given the perfect one, and great to hear that Landon and Melissa
love her. As for the camera, I am going to send you some pics which I have
printed out, or I will send you the storage chip. I cannot find that white cord
that you gave me and my companion forgot his card reader but I'll be using
another missionary's camera to do it. Hopefully it will work. T is struggling
but we are still seeing him. It's hard for him to give up some things, but we
are working on helping him to see that what the gospel has to offer is
infinitely worth more than those things he would give up in becoming a disciple
of Christ. Elder Thomas is a great missionary and we've been able to get to
work and Miranda has a baptismal date which is the 21st but will probably move
to the 28th since we've stake conference and a conference with Elder Pearson
and Elder David A. Bednar around that time. She came to church yesterday and
that was awesome. As for Samah we didn't see him last week - wasn't feeling up
for it the day we had scheduled - but we'll be stopping by this week and will
talk about his reading of the Book of Mormon. As for those heaps of lessons we
had visited lots of members and less actives which we didn't get to last week
with getting Elder Thomas and then us cleaning the flat for an inspection on
it, but we are going to work hard this week, though sad news is that Elder
Thomas's bike got stolen from our flat. T'was not in the garage, but under a
covered part of the drive way. It was a planned occurrence because they knew
our schedule and where the bikes were, so for now we'll be on foot or bus.
That'll make things harder, but we'll work with what we've got. Besides that
the weeks have been really good. How's your time been besides all of the
different things you've been doing?

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Dear Mom,

I am doing quite well today, and
I enjoy my new companion. He's 27, from New Zealand, and has a desire to make
an impact in this area. We
were able to get in touch with T, and he said he's come to church this
upcoming Sunday so we are going to hold him to that. We need to see him
this week though or else I feel that will fall through as well. We
gave a Book of Mormon to S and committed him to read it. He's willing to
learn and wants truth so we testified that he could know that this church
has great truth and that he could know from reading the Book of Mormon. For
M, we see her regularly, but she needs help getting the desire to
come to church. We'll be teaching her about it in our next visit.

I am really enjoying riding the
bikes around because now we can do much more and go greater distances. And
it does get far easier the more you do it. And I love how now we look like
the iconic image of missionaries: young men in shirts and ties on bikes.
But the work is going well. We really want to do more finding because Elder
Pearson of the Area Presidency said there were many to find. And so that's
our goal for this transfer.

And this past week was really good because we were able
to teach a lot of lessons, around 13, when the week before was 3. We were
just really focusing on getting lessons, and it worked quite well.

I am loving the mission and boy are there a lot of
things to learn but it is coming along and I am feeling ever so privileged
to be here. You are an amazing mother and I love being your son. I will
continue to work and to even work harder to make you proud and the Lord.
Love you always.

Sunday, January 18, 2015

The temple was an awesome experience. It's located on a
hill but with a road and shops and the mall before it and to the sides. You
can't see it until you're pretty close. It was great though. I saw the film
that I saw when I was endowed. That was a surprise, but it was good to see it
again.

I did not mention that I am Elder Pearson's cousin. I had
the thought that I might be related, but didn't mention anything to him,
bummer! He is an awesome leader.

M has read and we need to do another follow up. She did
say she read at the beginning about Nephi, though she didn't get far. We'll
probably read with her next time we see her. As for T we are trying to get
in contact. We've stopped by the house a couple of times and have called, but
to no avail. We aren't giving up on him though. He was so happy when we were
teaching and when he was learning. We'll get him though. And as for that
couple watering their lawn, we've stopped by twice and didn't catch them
home. We'll try again this week and hopefully will catch them.

I do have the pictures and would be delighted to send
them, but the computer is not allowing them, they are failing at attaching,
so I'm not sure if I can by the end of my emailing time, but here's a hoping.

This past week wasn't the best of weeks, but at the same
time, there was a lot of things we were able to accomplish. We wrote up a list
of all the members in our ward on a windows excel sheet so that we could make
sure that out of the three companionships in our ward, all the members would
know one of them. Plus that way we can write down and mark those we've
extended invitations to, and then we can make sure that we are giving all the
members the opportunity.

We also met the husband of a member, who's name is S.
He's wanting to find out the truth, so we will be working with him. We also
hope to help the relationship so that he's going to see the change when the
family is coming closer to Christ.

Also we saw a less active family that weren't being met
with by missionaries. They want to come to church and that was good and we
also invited them to read the Book of Mormon as a family.

We've been learning as a zone about the importance of the Book of
Mormon, and I am coming closer to seeing how truly important it is, and the
witness of Christ that is found therein. Right now as a mission we are
marking every verse that talks about Christ or contains His words. It's been
going great so far and I am amazed at how many times his name and words and
teachings are mentioned. It's truly a witness of Him. So that's one thing you
could do. I'd do that with a cheap blue one, and not your standard one since
there's a lot of marking.

Also, from zone conference, we talked about distractions
and how those can make it harder to focus and to get out of reading the Book
of Mormon what you were wanting. Also, imagine that you were the person it
was talking about, being it Nephi of his conversion to the Lord, yet his
sadness and frustration at his brethren missing out on such an opportunity,
or you can put yourself in the shoes of the prophet writing about the
wickedness of the people, and what he is feeling as he sees the destruction
of a people who have forgotten the truths and have forsaken their God. I am
working on improving my studies as well. So I'd do all I could to put myself
in their shoes, then their writing seems to have more depth and feeling into
it. Plus you then remember the scriptures in a more personal way.

If I can get the pictures to send I will send them on a
different email. Love you so much, Mom, and it's great getting your emails.
Continue to study the words of life and I pray you grow in understanding and
desire with that which you are to do.

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Dear Mom,

Boy am I a bit tired, but for great reason. Today we went to
the temple, the first time in my mission! It was lovely and I have many
pictures to send but I came to the library, looked in my bag, and realized that
I must have left my white cord at the flat for some reason. Super bummer. I've
pictures of me at the temple. It's pretty small, but lovely and I enjoyed every
minute of it. It was great to finally go. We did a session at around nine
o'clock, and had to leave our flat at six, so I woke up at five and I am
feeling it at the moment but worth it all the way. It was a great experience.

This past week we also had Elder Pearson of the Quorum of
the Seventy come and visit our mission. Our zone of missionaries and two others
came together near the mission home to hear him speak. He spoke of many great
things, especially with how we need to extinguish doubts, to starve them, and
to go forward with faith in Christ.

This past week was good, for M is doing well and has
been praying both in the morning and at night everyday. We gave her a Book of
Mormon and invited her to read everyday as well. We are seeing her this week.
The potential couple we knocked this week but they weren't home. We'll
hopefully stop by again this week. That was a great find. We received a
referral from an investigator's wife and that was good. Wasn't home when we
knocked, but we'll be trying again, perhaps tonight.

T is having a hard time and didn't come to church this
week. Keep him in your prayers: T M. We want to teach him that God is
our loving Heavenly Father, and recommitting him to read and pray everyday.

We'll that makes the week, the
highlight being the temple today. The mission is great. Even on the harder days
it's still great.

Sunday, January 4, 2015

Dear Mom,

I am doing great, and tell the little ones that I won't be able to respond back
to them today because email time was cut in half since there's a lot of stuff
going on today, but tell them that I love them and they are great and that it
was awesome to see how much they've grown up. As for our investigators, T is working
on preparing himself, just some challenges to get over. We are thinking of what
to do with V, she's a bit weird and she doesn't respond to our texts or
picks up our calls; we might just swing by. Our investigators are doing okay,
just need to get in contact again. This past week was busy with going through
the ward list to figure out who is there and who's not, and figuring out those
who don't want contact with the church and want their names removed. So it was
good because we found some more members, being less actives, to visit.

My companion and I are doing well. I feel like I have grown
while being with him, so that's a good thing. I enjoy being district leader
because it helps me to bear testimony and teach other missionaries. I enjoy it.
Developing faith to find has been good since we found a potential investigator
a couple days ago, and she was trying to find out which church is true. We're
going to stop by again in this week or perhaps the next one, but that was a
miracle since I prayed that day to have someone needing to be approached to be
watering their garden. Sure enough I saw a man watering, so I stopped the bike
(we've bikes now) and talked, then his wife came out, and gave us water, and
she's the one that wants to know which church is true. She had to go inside so
we couldn't talk, but we'll be stopping by again.